Hopefully not everybody got their fill of character angst from last night's episodes. If so, well it's a good think I own Chuck and not them. No wait, that's not right… Well, I was here first, so ha!
2. The Dinner Starts
John Casey knocked on the door just after Chuck finished his shower. Ellie led everyone to the table and showed them to their seats. Devon sat at the head of the table, with Morgan and Casey on the two sides next to him. Ellie sat Sarah at the side on the other end of the table from Devon, with Chuck seated between Sarah and Morgan. Ellie herself sat the opposite end from her husband. Casey looked a bit surprised to find himself alone on one end of the table, but didn't question it.
A few minutes later, the final guest arrived. Kelly greeted Ellie after breathlessly apologizing for being late. A moment later, she was led to the table and beckoned to the seat right beside Casey.
"Everybody, this is Kelly Deveraux. She just started working as a nurse at the hospital, and I thought she might like a home cooked meal." Ellie introduced her to everyone else at the table, finishing with Casey, though she was disappointed to notice his vague greeting in response.
"Now dig in everybody."
"Great food, Ellie," Morgan said once everyone had begun eating. Or at least, that's what Ellie thought he said between mouthfuls of food. She might have known that he wouldn't learn proper table manners from a place where serving food on sticks was considered the norm.
She gave Morgan a cursory nod, and turned to Chuck. "So, you guys have really been working hard. Going to the office on a Sunday?"
"Well, actually we got most of the work done last night. So today we just kind of hung out."
"Last night? I thought you and Sarah..." Ellie decided not to finish the sentence, as she noticed that Sarah was surprised, and not too pleased, by this as well. It seemed like she would have known about this if Chuck had broken the date with her.
"So, Chuck," Sarah said, "if you weren't working today, what were you and C… John doing today?"
"Oh," Chuck turned slightly red, "we were, uh, playing basketball."
Ellie gave her brother a look. "You mean you were playing video games?"
"No, Ellie, actual basketball. On a court and everything."
"When did you start playing basketball?" Morgan asked. "We hate basketball."
"Well, I've started to like it. Plus, I've gotten a bit better at it lately."
Ellie glanced at her husband. Chuck had once played a pickup game with the Woodcomb family, and by Devon's account, his playing had been 'Not awesome.' She was hoping to see him bust Chuck's chops about it again in his way, but Devon remained silent.
"Well, maybe I'll play with you some time," Morgan suggested.
"I dunno buddy, you never liked to play before. Remember how you were always picked last in gym class?"
"Well yeah, right after you!"
"Well if you don't feel like picking on Morgan, maybe you'll let me play?" Sarah responded, studying Chuck with a level gaze. "Unless you think I'm not up to handling this new-found talent of yours." She motioned across the table. "Maybe Devon can be a fourth."
Ellie's eyes narrowed. "And I can be a fifth. Kelly, do you play?"
"Oh gosh, no. Sports were never my thing."
Ellie looked around the table. Morgan had a petulant expression, matched by Sarah's frown. Casey looked bored, while Kelly seemed to be shifting in her seat. This was not going well.
"So tell me about this new company," Kelly said to John Casey.
Casey briefly turned his attention from his chicken and shrugged. "Just a company Bartowski and I started."
"Oh yeah? What kind of company?"
"Oh, nothing too glamorous," Chuck replied for John, who had returned his focus to his plate. "We're working on a software package that helps merge medical records."
"Really?" Kelly said with interest. "We could use that over at Burbank General."
"Wait, hold on a second." Morgan said. "Casey, you've become a computer programmer?"
After Casey grunted in response, Chuck said, "No, that's not really his thing. He's in charge of marketing, actually." Chuck looked at Casey. "He's all about the hard sell, our Casey."
Ellie raised an eyebrow, while she heard Morgan grumble to himself, "Last time I checked, I'm a salesman too."
Chuck looked over at Morgan. "Yeah, I know, buddy. But I don't remember you, actually, selling anything, ya know?"
"Hey, I had my moments. Not my fault you did one of your disappearing acts when it happened."
"Disappearing acts?" Ellie gave her brother a searching look.
"Morgan means that Chuck was visiting me," Sarah answered before Chuck could. "He used to do that when things got slow at work. He was always sweet like that."
Ellie noted Sarah's use of the past tense, but decided to bite her lip (and a mouthful of potato) instead.
"So you work right next to Chuck?" Kelly asked Sarah. "That's so sweet?"
Sarah nodded. "Yes. I just started a new job right by Chuck's office."
"Really? So do you work with computers too?"
"Uh, no. Actually I work in the…food service industry."
"Really. That's, uh, exciting." Kelly's response was followed by another awkward pause.
"Great dinner, Babe," Devon said between mouthfuls of pot roast.
Ellie smiled appreciatively. She just wished her husband's compliments were a little more…formal.
"So, what happened Grimes?" Casey commented, his face displaying a quick smirk. "I thought you were supposed to be a master chef by now? Too much trouble reaching the stove?"
Good grief, Ellie thought. Didn't John know how to act at a dinner? Maybe she should have told him he was being set up.
"Hey, it's not easy," Kelly spoke up in Morgan's defense. "Believe me, I'm terrible in the kitchen too."
Ellie rolled her eyes. She wasn't much better.
"I don't really want to talk about it," Morgan finally responded. "So much responsibility, everybody expecting the most of you. I half-expected that angry British guy to pop out from out of the freezer and start yelling at me all of the time."
"That's ok, Morgan," Sarah said. "You'll find your niche."
"Well, if you keep changing directions all the time…" Chuck began.
"Chuck!" Ellie spoke up. She was glad that he was trying to push his friend, but this was hardly the place.
"I think you should give him a break, Chuck," Sarah said. "It's not like he can just stick something in his brain and suddenly be good at everything."
Casey chuckled. This surprised Ellie because she's hardly ever seen him laugh, and it didn't seem like that much of a joke.
"Maybe there's somebody hiring people to play video games all day," Casey suggested.
"Hey, you think?" Morgan turned excitedly to Chuck. "Whaddya say, Chuck. How 'bout we whip out the 'Call of Duty' tonight so I can work on my interviewing skills?"
"Oh, geez Morgan, I'll have to hook it back up. I haven't played much lately."
Morgan merely shrugged sadly and stared down at his plate.
"So Casey, I hear the car show's at the convention center next weekend," Chuck said as he helped himself to seconds. "We there?"
Casey shrugged.
"Hey, that sounds…fun," Morgan said. "I could go with you, if I'm not too much of a third wheel, that is."
"Fourth wheel," Sarah grumbled as she poured herself another glass of wine.
"What was that, honey?" Chuck asked.
"You're forgetting we have plans that night."
Chuck looked confused. "Oh, you mean…plans? I hadn't…"
"No, Chuck. We were going to go that new Thai place, remember? We talked about it all week."
"Oh, those plans. Um, ok. But the car show's only here for the weekend. I don't suppose you'd want to go to that…"
Sarah gave him a look. "Hello? Porsche in the parking lot?"
"That's your Porsche?" Kelly asked. "Wow, I should have gone into the food service industry."
Before Sarah could reply, Devon spoke up. "Hey Sarah, if you don't mind skipping the car show, you and I could try that new hiking trail. It's supposed to be…"
"Actually, Sweetheart," Ellie jumped in, "we need to go mattress shopping next weekend."
"Can't it wait, Babe?" Devon gave her a surprised look.
"No, we definitely need to buy a new mattress." You never know when somebody will need an extra mattress to sleep on, Ellie thought to herself. Especially when that somebody keeps making plans with his brother-in-law's girlfriend.
"Well, I guess it's just you and me, Sarah," Morgan said. Rather than respond, Sarah took another sip of her wine.
Ellie had never realized that chewing potatoes could be so noisy, but next to the stony silence emanating from the table, it was deafening. Chuck was looking perplexedly between Sarah, who was shoving her food around the plate, and Morgan, who glumly had his chin perched in his hands. Casey was looking around in amusement, while Devon's occasional attempts at conversation were ignored by everyone. Kelly, meanwhile, was trying to sneakily check her watch underneath the table. Things couldn't get worse.
A moment later, the door rang.
"I'll get it!" Devon practically leaped out of his seat and raced to the door.
"Anna?" Ellie heard her husband say in surprise.
The small woman marched into the kitchen. "Aha!" she exclaimed, pointing at Morgan.